How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?
I personally change all the ones in my flat by myself. It’s pretty easy! And to be honest, there’s less and less need for that with the advent of long-lasting LED lightbulbs, but that’s not what this article is about!
This article is about what happens when two feminists meet at a comedy workshop…hint: they haven’t changed any lightbulb (yet)!
Through my work with Funny Women I’ve met countless women and non binary people working in comedy. Met friends and colleagues that I admire and whose successes I keep gushing about to anyone who will hear. Met friends and colleagues I not only bring up in the rooms where it happens, but who also recommend me for all sorts of jobs, and sometimes even hire me themselves – women supporting women (yay)! Have ended up mentoring people from London, going through Wales, and all the way to Australia, who are not only mentees, but people I came to respect and whose work I can’t wait to see exist out in the world and be able to support.
The latest addition to this ever growing list of amazing people trying to make work in an ever more hostile industry, particularly to women, as reported by the latest stats featured in this Hollywood Reporter article, is Ally O. We think we shouldn’t let the stats hold us back, but instead use them as fuel to work towards change!
We met through a Funny Women online workshop, I think now over a year ago. We immediately hit it off, but she was about to move from Scotland – already a far away place for someone living in London, like me – to Germany, so we let it go. Then I ended up in Berlin, when my improv team 20% Less were programmed at the Das Improv Festival 2025, and who do I finally meet in person? Yes, Ally…duh! Who else are we talking about?
We remembered the world is smaller than it looks, that the internet exists, and zooms, google meets, and microsoft teams are now the staff of life, and that in an increasingly hostile and individualistic world, collaboration, and international collaboration to boot, is sexy and important, and might help bring about change.
Who would have thought a person from small town Portugal, would meet a person from small town America, while one is living in London, and the other in a German city that’s not even one of the 10 largest, and commit to smashing the patriarchy together? The future really is in community!
We decided we’d be accountability buddies, but the more we met, the more we realised our work had so many points in common:
- We’re both feminists who change their own lightbulbs, all on their own,
- We were both raised catholic, and rebelled against it
- We are both immigrants, who call ourselves immigrants, because we don’t believe in the higher hierarchy attributed to the word ‘expat’, and
- We’re both so tired of trying to fit into an idea of the independent artist who can do everything on their own, and doesn’t need a day job to survive in this patriarchal, capitalist society.
We’ve started leaning on each other. Escalating accountability to collaboration. Starting to build an international network of femme/them comedy writers and performers. Now we not only have someone in our corner, who’ll cheer us on when we need it, but also have two whole shows happening in London in October.
We enjoy writing together, why not do a call out for other people who’d like to write and perform sketch comedy, and in the process form our own grrrl gang to take down the patriarchy together?
We did it, and now have a dozen up and coming comedy writers and performers with a lot to say, learning lines and rehearsing for a ‘smash the patriarchy’ halloween themed sketch show in London. We also joined forces with Bitches in Stitches, because we’re stronger together, and can build an unbreakable tool to carve out a space for ourselves, as marginalised genders in the industry.
And why do one show when we can do two? As big multitasking women (as all women are! Stereotypes can be true…) we’re doing a big cast sketch show and our solo comedy shows on two different dates in October. We wouldn’t call ourselves ungovernable high achievers for nothing! We will take over the world, and we’re starting with two shows!
Apart from the unavoidable learning that happens in workshops, the best thing about doing them is all the people you meet. They’re like the dating apps of comedy collaboration…you might meet people you’d never meet in the places you hang out, and end up building a long-lasting international comedy coalition!
If you want in on this magic feminist party, you can attempt to replicate it by taking one of the Funny Women Workshops currently listed in their events tab…there’s even a Comedy Crash Course in there, starting imminently, which is where me and Ally met!
The only things we ask is that you don’t count how many occurrences of the word ‘patriarchy’ are in this article, and that you validate our illusions of grandeur by buying tickets to one or both of our shows in London this October, and we don’t end up concluding being ungovernable was a mistake.
Final Girls: Halloween Femme/Them Sketch Comedy: Sunday, 18th October, 3PM at Etcetera Theatre, London. Tickets here.
EXCOMMUNICATED: An Evening of Confessions from Ungovernable Women: Thursday, 22nd October, 7.30PM at Rosemary Branch Theatre, London. Tickets here.
